Combination chair and table



Jan. 13, 1953 A. ABBATE ETAL 2,625,206

COMBINATION CHAIR AND TABLE.

Filed Jan. 23, 1950 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig./.

7 8 Fig. .9.

A/Qqrf Abba/e Emma Cappel/efh INVENTORS Jan. 13, 1953 Filed Jan. 23, 1950 COMBINATION CHAIR AND TABLE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3.

Albert Abba/e E mil/'0 Cappe/lelh' INVENTORS BY Mim Jan. 13, 1953 A. ABBATE EI'AL 2,625,206

COMBINATION CHAIR AND TABLE Filed Jan. 23, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 95 56 Albert Abba/e Emilio Cappe/Iefh' 4 INVENTORS l I C 5 0 1 52 54 4- By c J Mk9 Patented Jan. 13, 1953 2,625,206 I COMBINATION CHAIR AND TABLE Albert Abbate and Emilio Cappelletti, Detroit, Mich.

Application January 23, 1950, Serial No. 139,974

4 Claims.

1 V This invention relates to improvements in combination chairs and tables of the collapsible type.

An object of this invention is to provide a newand useful article of furniture adapted particu'ev larly for use by children which consists of a table top which is hingedly connected to a pair of front, vertical support legs and held in selected position by means of a latch; a chair seat and a chair back which is hingedly or pivotally con.

nected with the chair seat, together with an improved linkage and leg arrangement connecting the back intermediate its ends with the lower ends. of thesupport legs whereby when the chair back and seat are pivoted in confronting relationship with each other, they move upwardly and in-v wardly to a position of substantial parallelism with the front support legs and the plane of the table top, said linkage and leg arrangement also moving in substantial parallelism with these elements.

A further object of this invention is to accommodate pencils, chalk, and small articles in a receptacle which is disposed at the front edge of the table top and to provide in the closure of the receptacle a device for supporting papers.

Ancillary objects and features will become apparent in following the description of the illus trated form of the invention. H

In the drawings: I Figure 1 is a plan view of the device;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the device of Figure .1, showing it in the folded condition;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of the device showing it in the partially folded condition;-

Figure 4 is an elevational view of the device showingit in the full opened condition; Figure 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Figure 4and in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 6 is a longitudinal view taken substantially on the line 66 of Figure l and in the direction of the arrows;

Figure? is an enlarged fragmentary view taken substantially on the line 1-1 of Figure 6 and in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 8-8 of Figure 4 and in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 9 is a perspective view of a part of the table portion of the device and illustrating par ticularly the receptacle with the cover therefor in the open condition.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention may be broken down for consideration into two portions that is, the chair generally indicated at l0 and the table generally indicated at l2. The table consists of a table top [4 which has a head 16 around the edges, the lower bead strip l8 forming a stop to prevent pencils, papers and other articles from sliding off the top when it is disposed at an angle withrespect to the horizontal, for example, as illustrated in Figure 6. The top may be a planar board or asshown in Figure 6, a board with slate 20 disposed thereon to form a writing surface for chalk. The utility of a specially provided membe 20 forming a writing surface is an optional feature.

Flanges 22 and 24 respectively depend from the lower surface of the table top l4 and have pivot pins 26 and 28 passed therethrough, these pins also passing through the upper ends of a pair of vertical support legs 29 and 30 respectively. This construction mounts the table top for pivotal movement on the upper end of the vertical support legs.

A latch which consists of a strap 32 having a number or series of edge opening recesses 34 is pivoted at its upper end to one of the flanges, as for example, the flange 24, and is cooperable with a stop or pin 36-which is carried (by the vertical support leg 30. It is apparent from an inspection of- Figure 4 that the angle of tilt with respect to the horizontal of the table top is regulated and then maintained .by employment of the latch.

A shallow receptable 38 having an open top,

is fixed to the outer edge of the table top [4. A cover 40 is hinged to the receptacle and disposed between projections of the sides of the receptacle. The lower edge has a cam projection 42 fixed thereto which is adapted to engage the rear vertical wall of the receptacle 38 in order to limit the hinged movement of the cover or closure 40. The projection 42 is so shaped as to allow the top or closure 40 to move to a position which is at substantially right angles to the receptacle 38. Accordingly, the cover 40 acts as a holder for papers and the like, inasmuch as the lower edges of the papers or book or other similar article may be disposed in the shallow receptacle 38.

A pair of arms 44 and 46 are pivoted on the inside surface of thecover 40 and have small cutouts at the ends thereof to form finger grips (Figure 9). The small arms 44 and 46 are adapted to pivot upwardly as disclosed in Figure 9 and to be held there by friction in the pivot connections in order to form an extension for assisting in holding papers, books and the like in the tilted condition.

The cover 46 fits flush in the receptacle 38 when it is in the closed condition. Accordingly, since the bead I8 extends around the table top, it is necessary to provide a convenient medium for raising and lowering the cover. To this end, we have supplied a finger recess 48 in the head or molding at the top edge of the table top for facility in lifting the cover 40.

Plates i] and 52 are riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to the lower end of the vertical leg 29. Similar plates 54 are riveted or otherwise rigidly fixed to the lower end of the lower leg 30. These plates project rearwardly slightly in order to form a pocket to accommodate the lower ends of the support arms 56 and 53 respectively. These support arms are connected together by means of a bar 60 thereby causing both support arms to move as a unit in pivoting about the pins 62 and 64 which connect the lower ends of said support arms to the vertical legs 29 and 30 through the medium of the plates.

Rods forming connecting members 66 and 68 maintain the legs fixed a spaced amount from each other and hold them together as a unit. The members 68 and 68 may be secured to the vertical legs 29 and 36 by any suitable means, as a rabbeted connection or other conventional expedient.

As to the chair structure 10, there is a back rest ll! which may be of any specific type, as the latticed type shown in the drawings. The back rest is not a full length back rest as evident from Figures 3 and 6. The lower end of the back rest stops at the seat 72 level and is pivoted thereto at the rear thereof. The front end of the seat l2 has the pair of support legs 74 and 16 respectively pivoted thereto. These support legs have connecting members 78 and 80 fixed thereto in order to hold them together for pivotal movement as a unit about the upper pivot ends 82 and 84, which connect them to the seat 72 and the intermediate pivot pins 86 and 88 which connect them to the support arms 56 and 58 intermediate the ends thereof.

The upper ends of the support arms 56 and 58 are pivoted by means of pins ilfl and 92 respectively to the chair back Til intermediate the upper and lower ends thereof.

When the chair and table combination device is in the open condition, the' notches 94 and 96 which are formed in the bottom structure of the seat 72, are disposed on the bar 60 helping to support the seat T2 and forming a stop for it.

Links 91 and 98 have bent end portions which are pivoted respectively to the chair support legs and the vertical support legs thereby connecting the unit including the chair support legs to the unit including the vertical support legs.

In operation, it is assumed that the device is in the collapsed position as shown in Figure 2. Substantially all of the elements are in parallel relationship to each other, or at least the elements approach parallelism. The chair back is simply pulled outwardly causing pivotal movement between the chair back and chair seat and causing the support arms 56 and 58 to pivot about the pins '62 and 84. The support legs 76 and M pivot about the pins 82 and 84 and also about the pins 86 and 88. The links 91 and 98 are also caused to pivot.

By opening the device slightly further, the

notches 96 and 96 seat on the bar 60 limiting any further pivotal movement and the links 91 and 98 also serve this purpose of limiting movement, I

The table top H is then pivoted to the desired position and latched in place by the described structure for this purpose. The device is now in the operative condition and the receptacle 38 may be employed and the device enjoyed generally by a child or children.

To fold the device to the condition shown in Figure 2, the back rest or back '10 is simply moved inwardly toward the vertical legs 29 and 30 causing a reverse operation from that previously described in connection with opening the device.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a combination chair and table which includes a back, a seat and a table top which are arranged to fold to a position so that the back, seat and table top are in side by side relationship, a pair of vertical legs, the lower ends of which constitute feet to contact a floor, means rigidly connecting said vertical legs, and means pivoting said table top to the upper ends of said vertical legs, a latch releasably retaining said table top in selected pivoted positions, plates at the lower ends of said vertical legs, support arms pivoted to said plates and pivoted to said back intermediate the upper and lower edges of said back, a bar secured to said support arms connecting said support arms to form a unit for pivotal movement about the lower ends thereof, said seat being pivoted to said back and having a pair of support legs pivoted to the front part thereof, the lower ends of said support legs constituting floor contacting means, means pivotally connecting said support arms and support legs intermediate the ends of each, said seat being disposed on said bar to partially support said seat, and links pivotally connecting said vertical legs and said support legs to limit movement of said support arms away from said vertical legs.

2. A combination chair and table structure which comprises a chair back and seat and a table top arranged to fold to a position wherein said back, seat and top are in side by side relation, said structure comprising a pair of parallel, spaced, vertical legs, means rigidly connecting said vertical legs, a table top pivotally connected to the upper ends of said vertical legs, angularly extending support arms pivotally secured at their lower ends to the lower ends of said vertical legs, a chair back disposed between said support arms and being pivotally secured thereto intermediate its top and bottom edges, a chair seat pivotally secured to the lower edge of said chair back at its rearward edge, a pair of angularly extending support legs pivoted to the forward edge of said chair seat and crossing said support arms intermediate the ends of said support arms, said support arms and support legs being pivotally secured to one another, links pivotally connectin said angularly extending support legs and said vertical legs, said links limiting movement of said support legs with respect to said vertical legs whereby movement of said chair back and seat away from said table top is limited.

3. A collapsible table and chair structure comprising a table top, spaced, vertical legs pivotally secured to said table top at their upper ends, a pair of spaced support arms having their lower ends pivoted to the lower ends of said vertical legs, a chair seat and back disposed between said support arms, said chair back being pivotally secured to the upper ends of said support arms intermediate its upper and lower edges, said chair seat being pivotally secured at its rearward edge to the lower edge of said-chair back, support leg-s" pivotall secured to the forward edge of said chair seat and crossing said support arms beneath said chair seat, said support legs and support arms being pivotally secured to one another at their crossing, links pivotally connected to and extending from the upper portion of said support legs to the lower portion of said vertical legs to limit movement of said support arms and legs away from said vertical legs, said chair back collapsing upon said chair seat as said support arms are moved toward said vertical legs whereby said support arms and legs and said chair back and seat assume a position substantially parallel to said vertical legs.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein a bar connects said support arms to one another, said bar being a partial support for said seat and further limiting movement of said support arms away from said vertical legs.

ALBERT ABBATE. EMILIO CAPPELLE'I'II.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

